Wyoming Super Cruiser

[CaNINE]

Even with a good muzzle break (thank you benchmark barrels) I'm not quite able spot shots from this shooting position.  As I recovered from the recoil I could tell the bear had reacted to the shot.  It looked like he hunched but then started to move.  I chambered another round but was unable to get back on the bear before he was moving and gone behind some trees.  Even though he was ready for it, the muzzle blast blew my buddy off of his spotter long enough that he didn't spot the impact but he too thought the bear was hit.

[CaNINE]

After the shot, we listened intently for crashing or moans but the distance and the creek sound in the drainage below made it impossible to hear.  The next few minutes we finally were able to mentally relax, take stock of what happened and recount events.  We were both still in disbelief that this magnificent bear had appeared and that we just took a shot at such a spectacular specimen.  I gave thanks to God and prayed that the shot was true.  We packed up our gear and started descending down the ridge to where the horses were tied. 

[CaNINE]

It's now dark and we reach the horses by headlamp.  We start riding, cross the creek and try to find our way up the other side.  We were both excited to confirm a hit and recover this bear.  Things got a little western as we pushed the horses up the ridge, around blowdown and over some slopes that defied common sense.  We stopped and got ourselves calmed down, dismounted and led the horses to a safe point where we tied them then climbed the rest of the way on foot.  No point in getting a horse hurt or one of us taking a fall.  More deep breathing required.

[CaNINE]

We climb about 500 feet on foot to the spine where we last saw the bear.  With headlamps we do our best to pinpoint the exact location where the bear was standing at the shot.  Being careful not to disturb the area too much and damage sign we start searching for blood via headlamp.  We start to extend in the direction the bear was moving and pick up tracks.  No blood.  We stay on the trail and he's now moving in snow drifts (see pic above with dollar bill).  No blood in the snow.  How can that be I'm thinking.  We followed these tracks in the snow for approximately 50 yards and decide that pressing further in the dark at a potentially wounded bear was a bad idea.  We decided to come back in the morning to resume the search in daylight.  It was a long, quiet and depressing descent back down the mountain and ride back to camp.  Doubt had crept in and without finding any blood in the snow I was convinced that I had blown this opportunity.

[CaNINE]

My buddy who has much more bear experience than me, tells me that bears are tough and can go a long ways even with a good hit (thus the need to break down the shoulders) and that all that hair absorbs blood like a sponge.  We both spent a restless night waiting for morning light. 

[CaNINE]

After some breakfast, we saddle the horses, a pack mule (thinking optimistically  ) and make our way back up the mountain.  In the daylight, we are able to find a much easier path this time and ride the horses without danger.  We tie the animal up about 100 yards from the spine and resume our search.  We start looking for hair and blood at the location of the shot.  None.  We start looking for a bullet crater in the event I had missed.  None.  Hmmmm.

[CaNINE]

We fan out and start moving down the last known travel route of the bear.  After about 25 yards of careful tracking I hear a manic "hey I've got a bear over here...you better get over here!!!  Now my mind interpreted this as I've got a live bear over here so with the rifle in the high ready I hustle in his direction repeating "where?, where?".  I now catch sight of my buddy and can tell he's looking at the base of a nearby tree surrounded by a 4' deep snow drift.  As I approach I can see the mound of a bear at the base of the tree.  We carefully approached together and it became obvious that the bear was dead.

[CaNINE]

We celebrated and I gave thanks to the Lord for helping us find this bear.  It was all we could do to pull him out from under the tree and up onto the hill.  The shot had impacted in the right shoulder, took out the lungs and exited just aft of the ribs.  The bear died quickly.  We had been within 20 yards of him last night but had walked around him in the dark.  The only blood to be found was in the location where he lay.

[CaNINE]

So thankful for this beautiful bear

[JakeLand]

Wow ! Great write up and nice bear !! Congrats

[ctwiggs1]

That's a once-in-many-lifetimes blackbear.  Congratulations and thank you for such a great write up.  Curious as to how the sausage tastes on an old boy like that??

[cbond3318]

Beautiful Bear! Congratulations!

[CaNINE]

We packed meat and hide down to the horses. It was a bit of a mountainside rodeo convincing the mule to shoulder this bear but he finally calmed down and accepted the smell of danger.

[CaNINE]

After laying eyes and hands on the bear it became obvious that a lifesize body mount is the only way to honor this creature. That wasn't in the budget but Dean is willing to work with me to make it happen. The hide when stretched from nose to tail measures 7'4" and the skull SCI greenscored right at 20". The biologist in Jackson estimates him at 15 years but maybe older. One of his canines used for aging was missing but they were able to extract one for lab analysis. I will find out the exact aging results in a month or two. He is a bruiser with one ear split clean in half and the left upper inscisor tooth pointing forward at about 45 degrees from a past broken face bone. Pretty amazing.

[CJ1962]

That's a great bear!  Can't wait to hear even more details on our next hunting trip.